Slower Is Higher: Threshold Modulation of Cortical Activity in Voluntary Control of Breathing Initiation.

ABSTRACT: Speech or programmed sentences must often be interrupted in order to listen to and interact with interlocutors. Among many processes that produce such complex acts, the brain must precisely adjust breathing to produce adequate phonation. The mechanism of these adjustments is multifactorial and still poorly understood. In order to selectively examine the adjustment in breath control, we recorded respiratory-related premotor cortical potentials from the scalp of human subjects while they performed a single breathing initiation or inhibition task. We found that voluntary breathing is initiated if, and only if, the cortical premotor potential activity reaches a threshold activation level. The stochastic variability in the threshold correlates to the distribution of initiation times of breathin

SUBMITTER: Pouget P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6193114 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature